Citigroup increased Chief Executive Officer Mike Corbat's compensation 27 percent to $16.5 million for 2015 as the lender boosted profit and passed the Federal Reserve's annual stress test, a reversal from its failure a year earlier.
Corbat, 55, got $4.5 million in deferred stock and an equal amount of shares tied to future performance, according to a regulatory filing Thursday. He also received a cash award of $6 million and a $1.5 million salary. President Jamie Forese received performance shares valued at $4.65 million.
Citigroup reported profit of $17.2 billion last year, the most since 2006, as Corbat sold assets and cut costs to improve returns. The firm's plans to return capital to shareholders got a passing grade from the Fed in 2015, a year after bank failed the annual stress test.
Citigroup's stock fell 4.4 percent last year, trailing the 1.6 percent decline in the 24-company KBW Bank Index, and has dropped 25 percent this year. The firm, which pioneered the era of global megabanks before almost collapsing in the financial crisis, slid behind Wells Fargo & Co. at year-end to rank as the nation's fourth-biggest lender by assets.
Bank of America Corp. awarded CEO Brian T. Moynihan $16 million for his work last year, raising his potential compensation 23 percent. Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., got a 35 percent increase to $27 million.
Executives of some other major Wall Street banks saw their compensation for 2015 reduced as they dealt with missed financial targets and falling stock prices. Morgan Stanley cut CEO James Gorman's pay last month by 6.7 percent to $21 million and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced Chairman and CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein's 4.2 percent to $23 million.
